Steel Becomes Stronger Wrapped in Flames but What about Your Soul?
by DarkPoisonousLove
Summary: Valtor is fighting Oritel on a mission his mothers sent him on to retrieve an artifact for them. But only when he admits to himself that it isn't them he's fighting for he manages to gain the upper hand. He is faced with a hard choice when winning the battle would mean losing his reason for fighting it in the first place, though.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'm... not sure what really happened here. The original direction of this was perhaps lost a little but hey, we get Valtor x Griffin angst from Valtor's PoV for a change so...**

The blades clashed and the sound entered his body, his veins to tangle with the adrenaline flowing through them. It was exactly what he needed, what he'd craved for so long now. Training didn't have the same effect when there was no opponent against him and he wouldn't waste his time sparring with any of his covenmates who couldn't rise to his level no matter how hard they tried. Not that Oritel was a match either but it was all he could hope for nowadays. Marion was not on the battlefield now that she was pregnant and Griffin was obviously avoiding him which he preferred to keep that way. He didn't need the feel of her magic all around him when a physical fight was so much more rewarding and helped focus his restless energy and pour it into the battle.

"Feeling tired?" Valtor mocked when Oritel barely blocked a swing that would've cut him in half a moment later. He was bursting with energy, not only because he had the power source Oritel could only get to feel when his wife was around, but also because he had undying anger in him to fuel him through everything and he knew how to use it, too. It would take extinguishing his rage to beat him and nothing could do that. Something impossible would have to happen to defeat that emotion that had turned more or less into a companion, a home when he had nothing else. "I may let you die with Marion and not make her suffer your demise if you surrender now," Valtor pushed to even the playing ground as much as possible. It wouldn't be a challenge otherwise.

"I'll never lose to you," Oritel seethed just like he'd expected he would, the self-righteous anger coming out on cue as just another proof he was so easy to manipulate and steer right where Valtor wanted him to go. And once he lost himself in the raging sea he didn't know how to navigate, he would lose his control too, throwing caution and planning to the wind and diving into battle headfirst to seek his death and prove Griffin had been wrong to join him and his friends in their hopeless quest to win against the Coven, to win against him. "My resolve is stronger than yours and so is my sword," Oritel growled like a madman and pushed him away before attacking with all the force he could muster while Valtor's words were in his mind and were doing their job of tearing his confidence and any beginning of a strategy to shreds.

Valtor evaded the strike with ease, making Oritel look like a fool as he lost his balance and almost fell, the force he'd wanted to hit him with becoming a rock that was weighing him down instead.

"Your sword won't save you no matter how special you believe it to be," Valtor taunted, hiding behind the smug sound like Mother Lysslis had taught him to. It wouldn't do to show his own outrage at the fact that Oritel dared to challenge him just because he had a spark of the Dragon Fire woven in his weapon. That power belonged to Valtor only and he'd make sure to take it from Marion too. "The Dragon Fire isn't yours to use," he said, unable to contain himself. He was done with having things taken away from him. It was him who'd take from now on.

"It's not yours either," Oritel bit back. "It's Marion's and you're just a fraud, an experiment gone wrong that should've never happened in the first place but those three witches don't have any sense left, just their pursuit of power," Oritel spoke, making his inner flames burn and reach to get out to prove him wrong. His Dragon Fire was just as natural as Marion's and even more powerful. It was the winning side of that opposition and he'd show them all how wrong they were to think otherwise. Death was always stronger than life and he'd teach them that lesson the hard way as they didn't leave him any other option with their refusal to see it and accept it.

"Even your wife won't be able to save you," Valtor glowered at him, giving himself a pause for a second to let the words sink in before attacking again. It was time to put an end to that fight. He'd drawn it out to entertain himself but he was getting bored, not to mention annoyed by Oritel's point of view on the matter that he neither appreciated, nor had the desire to hear. They weren't in a romance novel, that was for damn sure.

Oritel blocked his strike with ease this time, his gaze pushing into Valtor's just like their swords were as they were trying to cut through each other. "That's where you're wrong," Oritel said, his voice too calm as he was too sure of himself and Valtor didn't like having the balance of power being tipped away from him as if he'd had the rug pulled from under his feet. He'd fallen too hard already to do it once again. "Marion is my strength and as long as I have my family to fight for, you will never be able to defeat me," Oritel said, the fire in his gaze so familiar it made Valtor wish to break his eyes to pieces so that they wouldn't be able to harbor what had once been a reflection of his own but was now only a broken memory that cut through him and made his muscles weaker, and especially his heart. "My sword will always be stronger than yours because it's forged and yielded with love."

"We're not in high school, Oritel," Valtor said, choosing to focus on the naivety and ridiculousness of the words instead of on the feelings they carried. Keeping your focus on what mattered was key for winning and he couldn't forget that lesson after his mothers had made sure to drill it into his head. His education may have been more unconventional but that was exactly what would bring him victory. "Save your speeches for the drama club," he said through gritted teeth, trying to keep out the memories of the words that could've passed for poetry–the most beautiful poetry in the world–he'd been saying himself some time ago. The element of past was the important part in that thought. It was all behind him now and he was a weapon himself now just like he'd always been. And he would gladly go through Oritel if that was what he needed to do to accomplish his goal.

Valtor pulled back, just for a moment, just to gather the momentum he needed, and jumped right back into battle with a series of smooth, swift strikes that had enough force in them to cut through a fortress but Oritel had no problem avoiding or blocking them, sending sparks flying from their clashing blades. Sparks that only set Valtor on fire with the rage surging through him and almost made him release his magic to see Oritel burn as well but that would be a hit against himself and his own ego so he held back, holding on to the last ounce of respect he had for himself.

"You'd think differently if you'd felt anything similar," Oritel said, allowing himself the smugness over the trap he'd pushed him into, daring him to prove him wrong when he knew he couldn't. Or rather, he wouldn't. There was an easy way to prove him wrong but it would mean sacrificing his pride and he'd already lost too much to all of his enemies, old and new. "But I don't expect you to understand," Oritel spoke again, daring to insinuate he wasn't human enough to have love flowing through his veins and it made him wish to let out the demon in his essence and make him regret ever challenging him and trying to make him admit things that would unravel him or choose to accept the monstrosity being pushed on him from everywhere. "I'm fighting for a cause, and you're just fighting for yourself," he threw in his face, so lost in his tirade he didn't realize he'd pushed him past his limit. But that was okay with Valtor. It gave him the power to make him pay for it.

He used the energy, the madness he got from the image of _her_ invading his system and put it towards defeating Oritel and making him cower away rather than on keeping the memories of her warmth and his desire to give her everything out of his head. It made him reel, the feeling of pain and sadness intoxicating and charging him with determination because without her he had nothing and he'd never been satisfied with that. So if he couldn't have her, he'd have what he'd wanted for the two of them.

He'd have the world at his feet and everyone begging him for mercy and he'd have none for them like they hadn't had any for him. He would make them all regret ever getting in his way and hurting him. And he would make her see her mistake, would make her wish to come back to him, would make her give him her heart again. And he'd prove her wrong, too, by keeping it safe even when he had all the power to destroy her and tear it to shreds. But he'd never been the monster she–and everyone else but that hardly mattered to him when it was the judgment in her eyes that made him bleed and threw him in pain–had tried to make him out to be.

He was so fast, like a lightning, almost like Mother Tharma's winds, and Oritel didn't even see him coming, his sword forced out of his hands before he could comprehend what was happening. Valtor had him pinned against the wall, the dangerous edge of his blade pressed against his throat and needing just a little push to sink in and spill his blood. And Oritel had already pushed him too far. Not to mention the poetic justice in it for all that Oritel had dared spit in his face.

He was more than tempted to see the look on his face as death took over him and realization of the pain Marion would have to go through sank in. And the thought of having Marion suffering the same fate he'd had and being weakened by the loss of her partner had him convinced to press the sword harder in Oritel's neck and see him bleed out slowly, his nostrils flaring from the smell of the first drops of blood as he nicked the skin and the widening of Oritel's eyes to accommodate the immense terror that filled them luring him even more into the idea to have someone else in pain other than himself.

"Valtor," Griffin's cry cut through him worse than Mother Belladonna's frost that was always so striking against the heat of his inner flames. It made his hold on his control slip, his hand shaking and forcing him to withdraw the blade a little to make sure he wouldn't make a mistake. He couldn't let her see him so lost in his thirst for vengeance. It would give her the wrong idea. And she already knew how much she'd hurt him so his last argument to hold his position and let his intentions play out crumbled under the logic that had been her religion and she'd made him believe in as well, taught him how to control his impulses and use his brain, be smarter and more strategical. And his plan would crumble if he affirmed her belief he was a monster like the three that had raised him.

She wasn't supposed to be there. He couldn't explain her presence, couldn't find a logic to her showing up only now if she'd been there the whole time. Had she been hiding from him or had she not sensed his presence? Which answer was less terrible? And what had made her come out? Worry for Oritel or worry for him and his soul, worry for their love that would die if he allowed himself to kill now?

He let go of Oritel and threw his sword on the ground, for it was useless to him. He wouldn't need it ever again because he'd proven he was stronger than Oritel but he couldn't fight him, couldn't hurt him if he wanted to keep the source of that strength alive. Her eyes were already full of too much doubt, and the pleading... The pleading had that edge of confusion that ripped through him with the uncertainty of being able to give her what she wanted. Because he couldn't tell what she wanted anymore. She'd told him she'd wanted a better world for dark magic users and she'd told him she'd wanted him, but she'd ran away from him when he'd tried to give her exactly that and she was now begging him, silently, her eyes torturing his soul with the watery agony in them, not to hurt their enemies. But maybe they were just his enemies now. And he had no idea how to deal with the fact that they were her friends because that put them on opposite sides and made him fight her when she was what he was fighting for.

"Griffin," he said, allowing himself to say her name with reverence at least once more because he wasn't certain he'd be able to do that the next time he saw her. She was avoiding him and the fires she'd set in his soul when she'd left him were burning bad enough to churn even the love he held for her so he wasn't certain he'd be able to keep it alive for much longer. It was the last time he could promise her he wouldn't hurt her and everything that came in the future was more than uncertain and unstable like he hadn't been used to it being when she'd been in his embrace, grounding him and showing him what he truly wanted to have.

He left without the artifact he'd come for. He couldn't make himself fight her for it when he knew that could be the last time he was capable of making that choice while he still wasn't blinded by the fire burning in his core. Even if he risked having it extinguished by his mothers. Perhaps that would be better as it would leave him no opportunity to hurt her. Even when she was the one thing that had the power to hurt him worse than any sword would ever manage.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This was supposed to be just a stray thought about how Griffin felt after the whole happenstance but alas, here we are with another chapter instead.  
**

Oritel didn't speak to her. Not even when she used her magic to heal the small cut on his throat. She didn't really have the desire to approach him at all and would've let Marion do it, but she didn't want to risk an infection. It would make her interference pointless and she had trouble not regretting it already, grasping at the thought of Daphne and Marion and the baby she was carrying to avoid letting anything else in her head. It would be the death of her to think about what had brought on the dead silence that neither her, nor Oritel had any desire to break despite the fact that she could almost hear the war in his head mirroring the one in her own.

The ship landed on Domino and they prepared to get off. She let Oritel go before her as she didn't want to feel his gaze on her. Not that he seemed very present currently, the look in his eyes rather unfocused as he no doubt tried to put some order in his thoughts and make sense of what had happened when there was none. It was all emotions that had ruled them that day and the consequences had been nearly catastrophic... for them. She hoped that at least that would make him stop questioning Valtor's humanity. Though, what did it matter if he died for sparing Oritel's life?

She tried to push the thought away–they wouldn't kill him, they needed him so they would instead make him regret he was still living–but it was too late. And the sight of Marion and Faragonda waiting for her and Oritel instead of Valtor greeting after a successful mission cut through her composure as if it was the blade of the sword he'd abandoned on the battlefield. She'd wished to take it, to touch her fingers to where his had been and feel what little of him she could get nowadays, but she'd made herself leave it. He could need it, could decide to go back and get it, and she couldn't allow herself to take any more from him. She'd taken enough when she'd run away and pulled all the safety and comfort he'd found in her embrace out of his reach. His sword was the only thing left to protect him other than his fire that she'd also weakened by taking her magic away, the thing that complemented it, and it had never worked against his mothers anyway.

"Oritel," Marion called his name with relief before throwing herself in his arms and he held on to her but somewhat distractedly, as if he couldn't remember how to move his muscles that had failed him during the battle with Valtor. Yet, even that couldn't help soothe the burning agony inside her because Valtor wasn't there to do the same with her. He could no longer hug her thanks to her betrayal, yet he'd chosen to protect her despite knowing the consequences. He loved her and she loved him so why wasn't she with him? Why wasn't she in his embrace and whispering soothing things to him to help him deal with everything thrown their way? Why had she left him for a world that had never wanted either one of them?

"Griffin," Faragonda called out to her, still a good distance away and expecting her to walk over to her. It should've been Valtor waiting for her and calling her name, but that was lost to them and she only had Faragonda now. Nothing else. She'd left everything else behind. She'd left him alone.

Griffin felt the longing and rage filling her heart and pushing to make it burst out of her chest and go back to where it belonged. And she couldn't hold it in on her own. She needed help.

She ran into Faragonda's arms, almost tackling her to the ground in her haste, and she pressed into her, hoping the even rhythm of Faragonda's heart would help hers calm down and her chest pressed against hers would keep it in place and prevent her from losing it just like she'd lost Valtor.

The thought was too painful with the potential it carried to come true in the literal meaning and she couldn't take the pain of that blade running through her being. "They're going to hurt him," she sobbed out, the anguish spilling both from her eyes and her mouth as she held on to Faragonda, trying not to get lost in it herself. It wouldn't help her help him but she didn't know how to get through it. She didn't even know if Faragonda could help her and that just terrified her all the more, for the fairy had always been the one sure thing in her life providing security.

"What?" Faragonda asked, her voice quiet but the confusion and the helplessness it dragged out of her where very distinctive, poking at Griffin like the Ancestral Witches had poked at her with their punishments and words. And she hadn't even had it bad compared to him, yet the thought of returning at that place where they'd hurt her had her shaking. And the thought of him being there right now would've had her screaming but she had no strength left, all of it forced painfully out of her by the terror wrapped around her in place of his arms. It was only Faragonda's warmth keeping her grounded but even that had limited effect when she could still feel the cold of Belladonna's magic and she knew he would have to go through it because of her. Because he still loved her. Even after what she'd done to them.

"They're going to hurt him," she sniffled out, her voice so weak and pathetic, just like she felt compared to them. Just like she knew they'd make him feel for his failure. And the knowledge only weakened her more, like no other knowledge had ever done to her before. But they were like that, tearing apart everything they touched. And there was no one to keep them from laying their hands on him. He was just their property and she'd abandoned him to that terrible fate. She couldn't understand how he loved her still. It would've definitely made things easier for him if he didn't and she knew it. Yet her heart jumped in protest at the thought like it hadn't even done when she'd left him behind. She was selfish, but not enough to have stayed with him, and the awareness of her own strength that had come out in the wrong moment would cut her into a million pieces if not for Faragonda's arms around her and grounding her in the present. But the past was doomed, all sliced through and bleeding by her own hand. Why had she been so cruel to them? Why had she let the world make her hurt them?

"Oritel, what's going on?" Marion's voice startled her with the alarm it carried and all the pieces of the present it pushed in the empty spaces in her mind. She was pregnant and they all had to be careful not to stress her. They had to keep things like that away from her, had to protect her and the baby from pain. And Griffin wanted to scream at them and at herself because they were failing. They were failing to protect her and the life inside her even after Valtor had paid the price, and they couldn't allow themselves a waste like that. It was a crime.

"Oritel," Faragonda's voice was the one slicing through the atmosphere this time and keeping her from sinking too deep into the thoughts and drowning in their burning agony. "What happened?" she asked, her tone sharp like the negative energy making up her aura at the moment. She was worried like Griffin hadn't felt her be recently and it was all starting to spill, control slipping through her fingers as well, proving it was far more elusive than they would've liked it to be if it was escaping from Faragonda too and Griffin held on to her tighter, hoping to keep her into her reasonable state. She didn't need someone else–Faragonda of all people–paying for their love for her. It would be too much to know she could turn even love into a weapon. What kind of monster would that make her?

"I..." Oritel sounded like he needed someone to finish what Valtor had started and slice his throat open so that he could breathe. "I lost the battle against Valtor," his quiet voice was almost lost in the gasp that tore away from Marion and crashed into Griffin as hard as the knowledge of what Valtor had to go through, for they were piling burden on top of her too when they weren't supposed to. "He was going to kill me," Oritel sounded like he was in a trance, like what he'd seen had been a vision and Griffin was almost praying for all of this to turn out to be a trick of Lysslis'. It would be easier to accept the invasion of her head than that of her heart. "But when he saw Griffin... he left," Oritel said, the disbelief in his voice almost giving Griffin the strength to turn around and punch him for having the audacity to still doubt Valtor's feelings for her but the thought of those and the reminder of what they would cost him took all of her energy away again, leaving her leaning on Faragonda heavily for the support she couldn't find anywhere else. "He didn't even take what he'd come for," Oritel said, forcing a cry out of her that got lost in the endless open space around. The endless space between her and Valtor that neither of them could cross to have the other in their arms again.

"Griffin," Faragonda said and her hand tangled in her hair as gentle as the understanding laced in her tone now that she knew. She knew what Griffin was going through and she was offering sympathy because there wasn't anything else she could give. But that was more than Griffin could give Valtor after she'd chosen to leave him.

She sobbed between heaving breaths when she needed to stop. She had to, had to get herself under control, had to be her logical self and accept there was nothing for her to do. She had to stop because of Marion, because of the baby. Them at least she could protect despite her conflicting loyalties. And she could stop the three monsters if she found the strength to keep fighting against them even when it meant fighting against him. It was a choice she had to make when he was choosing to stay with them. Because he was. She'd been selfish and chosen to run away from him to save her conscience. And he was selfish, choosing to stay with them to protect his pride. He'd laid down his sword to avoid hurting her but he refused to surrender and join her on the side of light, refused to admit he'd been wrong by serving his mothers, refused to admit he needed to be saved from them because he was nothing more than a weapon they could yield. And his stubbornness was the only thing that could hurt her as badly as they were hurting him when he refused to choose her no matter how much she knew he wanted her.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: ****Faragonda's PoV on the whole situation. You can thank her-majesty-wears-jeans for this since she prompted it on tumblr.**

Time was barely passing by when she was grounded even if she wanted to fly all that way through space with just her wings and no ship. It should have been her to go with Oritel but, of course, Valtor had chosen to steal an artifact drenched in dark magic that weakened light magic users just by being anywhere near them. And since Hagen had gone with Saladin to prevent another attack of the Coven–they synchronized them to make sure there'd be less members of the Company in their way–that left them with Griffin as the only one who could accompany Oritel.

Faragonda hated the thought of her having to stand face to face with Valtor, hated the knowledge it would only bring Griffin pain and guilt when it could have been her facing him with no love in her heart other than that for her friends. She hated him and that made it much easier for her to stand against him. She wasn't torn apart by conflicting feelings like Griffin was and it should have been her on that battleground.

Damn him. She would kill him if he ever dared to hurt Griffin, no matter physically or emotionally. And she'd made it perfectly clear to Oritel that he was to get Griffin's aid just as a last resort. She was to stay hidden otherwise and not get involved. And seeing Griffin agree to that plan–even after putting up a serious fight about not running away from battle–was more painful than the blast to her side from a sneak attack of a Coven member that had almost killed her with all the internal bleeding it had caused. Because Griffin didn't run from pain as she'd proven when she'd ran headlong into enemy territory leaving what she loved behind to help them save the universe but she was refusing to stand face to face with him and hurt him. Or rather, hurt him more according to her although all Faragonda could see was the rage spilling from him every time he had to fight them on his own. But then again, all she could feel for him was hate for causing her friend suffering even if she couldn't blame him directly for that.

"They're landing," Marion said as she barged into her room in a fashion most untypical for her but none of that could startle Faragonda when it brought the news she'd been waiting for for what felt like an eternity. The sharp ring of Marion's voice in her head only sliced the thoughts in half to free her of them and she was out in the corridor in a moment when she'd only holed herself up in her room to make sure her impatience wouldn't affect Marion as well. She must have had enough of her own worry when she'd essentially sent her husband against Valtor with no backup.

Faragonda was certain the other fairy would have gone herself had she not been pregnant, artifact or no artifact. Even weakened she would have been a better help for Oritel than Griffin in that situation. But there had been nothing for her to do other than trust Griffin that she would do the necessary to protect her husband if nothing else.

Watching the silent understanding between them had been one of those moments that gave her hope they could win when they were united and supported each other. Marion had gotten not only over her concerns about Griffin herself, but also respected her feelings for Valtor and hadn't allowed herself to question them when she'd seen just how deep Griffin's emotions ran. And Griffin was ready to throw her own love to the wind to protect Marion and Oritel's and make sure neither Daphne, nor the baby would grow up without a parent. They were like family, like the sisters she'd never had, and she was torn when she knew they couldn't both have what they wanted when Griffin's love was threatening to destroy the universe. She could kill him just for making Griffin suffer his inability to love her fully and choose her over his ambitions, but she couldn't cause that pain to her friend. Griffin had enough trouble breathing as it was with the pain the memories of him caused her every time they ran through her being.

She had to watch her pace and keep it down to Marion's when all she wanted was for her wings to spring from her back and take her outside where the ship was landing or, better yet, teleport. She couldn't abandon Marion on her own, though, when she knew her own worry was a reflection of the thoughts in her head if it weren't even more intense so she resigned to suffering another eternity as they made their way out of the palace.

Reality seemed too slow when she'd made her way through thousands of different scenarios by the time they reached the ship and Griffin and Oritel still hadn't made their way off of it. Or maybe it was her mind that was speeding when all her efforts went into keeping her heart from doing the same. The only thing that could help her get it under control was the sight of Griffin getting off the ship that would force it back so that she could comprehend what she was seeing, so that she could make sure her friend was unharmed and well.

It was Oritel who came down first, his steps somewhat too unhurried which seemed to be Marion's opinion, too, as she crossed the distance left between them much faster and wrapped herself in his embrace when he didn't seem in quite the state of mind to do that.

It only had Faragonda focusing on Griffin in hopes it was just something concerning Oritel. It wasn't right of her but he had more people he could count on for support while Griffin only had her and she wasn't sure she could do such a good job when it came to Valtor and the situation between them that was even more impossible than it was for her to see him as something else other than a threat to everyone she loved.

Griffin seemed stuck to the metal of the ship and that already pained her with how lifeless she looked with it as a background. Something had definitely happened and she had no idea what to do, only that she needed Griffin in her arms and sheltered from whatever was out there and in her mind probably as much–if not even more–as Griffin herself needed it.

She called Griffin's name and that seemed enough to get her friend out of her trance and have her run into her arms but even their bodies colliding together wasn't enough to soothe the rage already rising in her at the knowledge this was all his doing. He'd done something that had left Griffin trapped in her own heart and mind when he got to walk around free and she couldn't stand it. If he wasn't bound to Griffin, then his place was in prison. It was only the love Griffin had for him that saved him from death and if he had no respect for that, then he needed to suffer his punishment. Yet, all he seemed to do was torture the only person who'd found how to love him. And she was ready to fight not only him, but also everyone else who dared say Griffin was heartless or diminish her ability to love in any way. She was a hero for giving her heart so fully to someone who didn't deserve it and not even trying to take it back.

Griffin was sobbing out her pain before she could even give a reassurance and perhaps it was a good thing because she would've been spilling only empty platitudes if what sense she was making out of Griffin's words was correct. There was nothing for her to say–not just because her expectations had been shifted so drastically when it turned out it wasn't Valtor who'd hurt Griffin, even if her pain still stemmed from her connection to him but being angry at that would mean being angry at Griffin for loving him and she couldn't do that when that love was already frowned upon by everyone else including the two it was between themselves–just like there was nothing for Griffin to do about it but cry out her pain to her and feel guilty for being helpless in the face of it.

Faragonda wished there was something she could do but she had no power in the situation either, just her rage at Valtor for making her wish he was safe because that was the only way Griffin wouldn't suffer over his pain that was all his doing when he refused to stop being his mothers' weapon. All he did was push more pain into them–not just in himself and Griffin but in everyone else who cared about her–with his inability to let go and be selfless. And she couldn't even hate him when that would be just another wound on Griffin's already bleeding heart. She could do nothing but try to hold her friend together and–for the first time in her life–hope when she didn't want to, when he didn't deserve that sort of faith placed in him, that he'd come around and stop hurting them all.


End file.
